Droplet interface bilayers (DIBs) are nano-sized structures that show electrical properties that are extremely sensitive to various perturbations, including electrical stimulation. This fact suggests that DIBs are ideal platforms for studying underlying memory generation and storage principles within living organisms. DIBs offer novel forms of tunable thin-layer structure to control functionality and, therefore, can be used to produce bio-inspired membranes that are ideal platforms for exploring biomimetic neuromorphic phenomena. Here, we demonstrate the use of dynamic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (dEIS) to follow molecular-level restructuring in DIBs that lead to hysteretic loops and mem-behaviors in lipid bilayers in response to electrical biasing. We show that deconvoluting the measured memristance and memcapacitance allows us to determine if the bilayer’s geometric structure (thickness or area) changed or if a phase transition occurred. Through correlation time-constant analysis of the capacitance/resistance, we show that memory processes caused by lipid bilayer expansion, or contraction, do not affect the observed electrical charge/discharge time constant. However, phase transitions resulting in new solvation or lipid structures affect the extracted electrical time constant. dEIS coupled with time-constant analysis provides a means for accessing multiple memory elements from a simple two-terminal device. These results provide additional insights into bio-inspired membranes to alleviate strain caused by charge density and transport.

Probing dynamics in droplet interface bilayer using dynamic impedance spectroscopy

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